I learned a lot in the framework of the issue of homeless veterans. I figured out that in various US cities, homeless veterans are invited to special meetings so that charitable organizations take these people under their patronage – they begin to look for work and temporary housing until they get on their feet. But one does not have to go to special events to meet homeless ex-military personnel. They can be seen in the center of almost every American city. Among the primary problems, there is the absence of programs for the rapid adaptation of servicemen to a peaceful life (Oster et al., 2017).
Many veterans use alcohol and/or drugs in moderation after returning from war. However, in many cases, organizations only begin to lend a helping hand to them in cases when this addiction starts to be chronic. A person often returns from a war substantially changed. His or her closest ones cannot recognize them. It should be noted that the likelihood of family collapse is considerably higher than of any other non-Veteran family. Another reason is the lack of affordable housing; in this vein, a paradoxical situation has long been observed. The authorities are enthusiastic within the scope of providing help to the poor, immigrants, and people with disabilities. Nevertheless, a veteran is not a priority candidate for an apartment – sometimes he or she gets refusal because of their military background.
Even if a veteran, after leaving the army, leads the life of a law-abiding citizen, he still remains at risk. It must be remembered that no one leaves the US Army healthy. But getting medical care for veterans is so problematic that hundreds of them die in queues to see specialist doctors (Weber et al., 2017). In addition, it is important to note that many of the problems of American veterans begin with the fact that the state does not spoil its defenders with money too much. They receive pensions by American standards, more than modest. This leads to the fact that the former military often joins the ranks of the criminals and quickly ends up in prisons (Blue-Howells et al., 2018).
There has been a number of challenges during the process that I had to address. First, it was a considerable amount of reliable investigations on the issue through the theoretical lens. Hence, I had to get acquainted with many materials related to the topic. This process was time-consuming, so I had to demonstrate good time-management skills and due diligence to structure the information and findings obtained. I organized my schedule appropriately, taking into account my other activities. Such an approach resulted in a significant background regarding the theme, which allowed me to design the project coherently and consistently.
The following challenge is related to proper time-management as well. Given severe conditions caused by Covid-19, I should recognize that it will not be easy to access the participants at the scheduled time. To that end, I had to design a very flexible timetable of the interviews, keeping in mind the opportunity to utilize some useful tools such as Zoom or Skype. These tools seem suitable for the project in terms of the safety of both me as a conductor and the participants.
At the current stage of the project, I do not need any additional support. However, again, I assume that some challenges due to the pandemic may occur, and I will need some assistance in accessing the participants. For now, I would like to ask for some recommendations on the questions for the interviews – is there a necessity to advance them or add some more? If yes, to which issue should they be related?
References
Blue-Howells, J., Timko, C., Clark, S. & Finley, A. (2018). Homelessness and criminal justice involvement among veterans: A review of the research. In Tsai, J. (Ed.) Homelessness among U.S. veterans: A critical perspective. New York NY: Oxford University Press.
Oster, C., Morello, A., Venning, A., Redpath, P., & Lawn, S. (2017). The health and wellbeing of veterans: A rapid review. BMC Psychiatry, 17, 1-14.
Weber, J., Lee, R., & Martsolf, D. (2017). Understanding the health of veterans who are homeless: A review of the literature. Public Health Nursing, 34(5), 505-511.